Editor's Notebook

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

BY ART CULLEN

I know a real, live East Coast media liberal who believes that the current round of rolling groping disclosures about prominent men by credible women soon enough will turn to a Reign of Terror, under which anyone who ever wanted to settle a score with you will be weaponized. And, she believes it will not change a thing about leering and lurching men or who control things because eventually the terror will obliterate a legitimate “Me, Too” movement.

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

BY ART CULLEN

If ever there were a year to give thanks, this is it. In case you hadn’t heard or forgot, we won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing this year. Since the announcement in April it has been a whirlwind — to speak to the National Press Club on World Press Freedom Day in Washington, DC, to accept the award at Columbia University in New York, and to deliver lectures hither and yon from Buena Vista to the University of Iowa. Despite hating travel you gotta be thankful to have survived so far.

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

BY ART CULLEN

A shot that should be heard around Iowa was fired last week in the Des Moines city elections. Josh Mandelbaum, a young environmental attorney, won a three-way race with 56% of the vote after campaigning about water quality and protecting the Des Moines Water Works.

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

BY ART CULLEN

The rot of dishonesty and corruption undid Rep. Wiley Mayne in 1974, the victim of his allegiance to President Richard Nixon. Berkley Bedell the fly-tying magnate from Spirit Lake was impeccably honest and beat Mayne. That year saw Tom Harkin unseat incumbent Rep. Bill Scherle in southwest Iowa, done in by Watergate.

It’s the other way around: Cheap corn leads to cheap hogs

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

BY ART CULLEN

Many Iowans take it on face value that two new pork plants coming online soon will increase pork production by six million head annually and lead to a proliferation in confinements.

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

BY ART CULLEN

Next year should provide a barometer on whether Iowa has reverted to its historic state of perma-red.

A half-dozen Democrats and two Republicans are chasing what is an essentially open seat held by Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican who ascended to the office with the departure of Terry Branstad for China. Reynolds has a bushel basket full of problems to attend to, not the least of which is Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett. (See today’s editorial.)

Ag dean opposes transparency, sustainability

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

BY ART CULLEN

The firm grip of the agri-chemical complex extends to the very roots of Iowa, so it should come as no surprise that one of its proprietors appears to be on a fast track to the presidency of Iowa State University.

BVU president aims to engage campus, town in conversation about change

He turns lemons into lemonade, if we let him

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

BY ART CULLEN

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

BY ART CULLEN

In case you hadn’t heard, Katie Couric was in town last week. She was everywhere. And everywhere that Katie went iPhones were sure to follow. At the schools. Downtown. At the North Seneca public safety neighborhood outreach. And right here at The Storm Lake Times.

A couple images emerged:

Couric and Co. were impressed with Storm Lake and how it handles diversity.

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

BY ART CULLEN